Extracts, Fine Art End of Year Exhibiton

 

 

    

 

Botanical Hybrids,
Charcoal, tracing paper, marker pen,
May 2014

These are some shots of the finished work, Botanical Hybrids (recycling the title from the Botanical Hybrids drawing series), which I finished a few hours before the show opened. I'm extremely happy that I managed to finish everything as everyone said to me that I was being very ambitious, although not to discourage me. There were several times where I thought that maybe I'd been too ambitious with what I wanted to create within the time frame I was given, however I knew that if I kept working and tried not to focus on the overall "finish line", and just get each part of the work done step by step, that I'd manage to do it; and I did.I'm unsure whether the work would be considered drawing, sculpture, installation, or a mixture of all three, however it does cross boundaries and blur lines between these art genres and terms, which is something I have done in past work and will continue to do.

Feedback from my peers was extremely positive, with many saying that the drawings are very delicate, and the work is ethereal. I never considered the work being delicate, but looking at it now I can see what they mean. I feel that the more subtle colours that I chose to work with in the tinted charcoal and marker pen look almost identical and help tie the work into one piece, and isn't too strong and dominating - I wanted the work itself to 'dominate' the space, not the colour I chose. In the finished piece the colours look identical to anybody who didn't know they were different, although I tried to match them as well as I could and feel I was successful in that. I'm unsure as to whether the tracing paper 'dominates' the space, but maybe I chose the wrong description within my proposal to begin with. Whatever descriptive work I should have used instead, I feel that the piece I created uses the space well and has been successful in what I set out to achieve. I think with this piece my confidence that I lost last semester has almost been regained, and it has proven to myself that I can still resolve my ideas into a coherent piece of work that I'm happy with and have few doubts over.

Initially I was going to create two new drawings on the walls, however I felt that I liked the first Botanical Hybrids drawings I created earlier in the semester, and in my proposal I set forward that I wanted to exhibit the original six drawings alongside the tracing paper sculpture/drawing. It was the logical decision to simply use two of those drawings within this work, in a way re-imagining them as well as me being finally able to see how such drawings look on a larger scale (something I failed to produce within my studio practice because of fast developing ideas). It was an extremely hard working week, however I'm glad I put the amount of effort into this that I did, as it was worth it for the end result and to help resolve some ideas that I've been exploring. However, these resolutions have lead onto more ideas that I could continue to explore that stem from this work, which may be something I continue to do over summer and into Level 6.

Mat Collishaw

Mat Collishaw - Insecticide (2006-9)
Artist’s statement:
"When my newborn son arrived home I became preoccupied with disinfecting the flat, which involved killing bugs and insects that had made their way inside. I began printing laser images of these flattened creatures by placing them into 35mm glass slide carriers. This process graduated to desktop scanners where I could directly scan the crushed insect. Generally the scan resembled nothing at first and I would look for facets of an image that could be manipulated into something identifiable."

These are maquettes of how I imagine I could create a larger piece from the tracing paper roll. With these, I'm trying to envisage how the drawings might link together, whether literally as one continuous drawing or as a series of similar drawings. I also tested out a different coloured ink, Burnt Sienna, however I feel it doesn't have the same impact or feel the Shale coloured ink I've been using has, so I'll continue to use the Shale marker. These have helped me to consider how I may sculpt and shape the large piece within my exhibition space, even though it won't be in one straight line and will more than likely weave around the space.

Now that the wall drawings are finished, it left me solely to concentrate on the tracing paper. I used the collaged/reassembled pieces within my sketchbook for inspiration, as well as other drawings I created later on within my sketchbook. Creating a very long piece of work within a "small" space, meant that I had to roll out a piece as long as my space, and once I'd finished that section of the drawing, fold it up and continue. Initially I intended to create one, continuous drawing, however I quickly realised that wasn't entirely possible so I created several drawings which linked and flowed into each other. I tried again with this tracing paper drawing to be less detailed and refined with the technical aspects, and to be more loose and expressive in the way I executed these drawings. The ink again behaved in similar ways to watercolour, so I used this to my advantage to suggest even more detail within the drawing without actually drawing them. I managed to get the whole of the tracing paper drawing done by the end of the day, after estimating I had drawn between 7-10 meters in total. I knew that I have the morning to install the tracing paper work and sculpt it how I wanted, so it meant I wouldn't have to rush it and possibly display it in a way that let it down or didn't display it in the most successful way.

These are the two finished wall drawings. I am really pleased with how they turned out, and I feel I made the right choice in using tinted charcoal for these, as many people have commented on how delicate and ethereal the drawings look. I'm also happy that this has turned out to be a better curatorial decision, as both my drawings and Vanessa's work extremely well together, and really bring the room together well. It also makes the best use of my given wall space. I felt that with the tracing paper idea, there was something lacking within the space, and I knew I would've liked to have used my Botanical Hybrids drawings in there somewhere (initially I wanted to display the six A4 drawings alongside the tracing paper) however I feel this is a successful solution to this.

After doing research into various materials I could use for the drawings, I decided upon using tinted charocal pencils, and chose a colour that was similar to the marker pens I would be suing on the tracing paper, so the work is clearly one piece. I used the pencil as a rough guide, changing certain parts or elements of the drawing to better fit the space of the wall, such as elongating the wings or roots to better make use of the space. I initially bought only two charcoal pencils, but soon realised that I would need many more, as they were wearing down much faster than I anticipated. The texture of the wall meant it took the charcoal pigment much better than expected, and added a 'tooth' to the drawing that I quite liked. However, to reduce the gaps within the lines a little, I used my finger to blend larger areas into the walls surface more, or a blending stump to blend the lines I had drawn with precision. As this was quite a long process, the two wall drawings took longer than I first expected, taking up three of the four days given to us for install. However I felt that I could still achieve everything I wanted to do within the time frame, and also knowing we had a few hours on Friday morning, before the show opened, gave me a little extra time.

Having had Easter to think about and consider how I want my end of year work to look, and having created sketches thinking about this, Monday meant it was decision time. I was also considering what Vanessa's work would look like, as I know she intends to create a wall drawing that faces opposite one of my walls. After thinking about how the walls could be used, as realising the space may have been too bare with only the tracing paper sculpture/drawing, I decided to create two wall drawings. I originally redrew the six Botanical Hybrids drawings on acetate to use in cyanotype prints, however I realised I could project two of the drawings onto the wall and enlarge them for my work. I decided on the two that I felt were the most "successful" out of the six, I felt their overall composition and the elements within the drawings balanced out well so would translate best onto the larger space of the wall. I drew them out in pencil to begin with, as I haven't yet decided what I will be drawing onto the wall with. I can't use ink or marker pen, as it's not easily painted over and only having one day to restore the space back, and limited resources means that this will make my job much more difficult.Watercolour would simply run down the wall, and that isn't an effect I want within my drawings as I want them to be fine, detailed and concise.

Barbara Witkowska

Looking at the drawings of a now graduated student, Barbara Witkowska, her drawings are very organic in their nature, as well as very detailed. They're also studies for possible painting ideas, so I feel that looking at her work could be of some benefit for me, in terms of her drawing methods and how she uses these for painting inspiration.

Having given in my proposal and the week long curatorial meetings now over, I have been given my first choice of space. I was very happy to have gotten this space, and surprised that I was the only person who really asked for it. I feel that this space is the perfect space for my work to be situated, and I just hope I can bring the ideas currently in my head into fruition. I'm currently thinking of having a continuous piece of tracing paper (as I've bought a roll of tracing paper now) taking over the space completely, maybe going up and down walls, across the floor, and maybe using the pillar in the space in some way. In essence, using the architectural qualities the space has to help develop the work.

I'm going to start sketching out possible ideas in my sketchbook to visualise how the work may appear and be installed into the space. I can't actually begin the work until install week so this will help make that process easier once I come to install, as hopefully it will give me a clear idea of how I'd like to work to appear before I even begin. This process of sketching ideas is something that I have not done much of in the past, so I think getting into the habit of doing this will help me create even more resolved pieces of work than I have achieved in the past.

Experimenting with tracing paper and layering within drawings in my sketchbook. I'm considering how I can create a drawing using this method, so I decided to draw a little bit of the drawing on each layer, adding to it as I went along. I like the effect of the first drawing being faint and washed out from the subsequent layers than went on top of it.

Seeing each layer on it's own, I then took a couple of layers of the drawing and set them out seperately in my sketchbook. I think this goes back to drawings created last semester, and this semester, wherein the creature or object is floating within the white space of the page. I quite like having these small, detailed drawings on their own, framed within the space of the page. I think this is one idea that I could possibly take further, however I don't think it's the idea I should be pursuing for the end of year exhibition as I don't feel the idea holds as much weight as others I've also explored, maybe this will be more of a smaller, sideline exploration.